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| DATE | 2025-08-30 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] Quantum Computing one step closer
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Engineers send quantum signals with standard Internet Protocol
University of Pennsylvania
9–11 minutes
Penn engineers send quantum signals with standard internet protocol
Yichi Zhang, a doctoral student in Materials Science and Engineering,
with the equipment used to generate and send the quantum signal over
Verizon fiber optic cables. Credit: Sylvia Zhang
In a first-of-its-kind experiment, engineers at the University of
Pennsylvania brought quantum networking out of the lab and onto
commercial fiber-optic cables using the same Internet Protocol (IP) that
powers today's web.
Reported in Science, the work shows that fragile quantum signals can run
on the same infrastructure that carries everyday online traffic. The
team tested their approach on Verizon's campus fiber-optic network.
The Penn team's tiny "Q-chip" coordinates quantum and classical data
and, crucially, speaks the same language as the modern web. That
approach could pave the way for a future "quantum internet," which
scientists believe may one day be as transformative as the dawn of the
online era.
Quantum signals rely on pairs of "entangled" particles, so closely
linked that changing one instantly affects the other. Harnessing that
property could allow quantum computers to link up and pool their
processing power, enabling advances like faster, more energy-efficient
AI or designing new drugs and materials beyond the reach of today's
supercomputers.
Penn's work shows, for the first time on live commercial fiber, that a
chip can not only send quantum signals but also automatically correct
for noise, bundle quantum and classical data into standard
internet-style packets, and route them using the same addressing system
and management tools that connect everyday devices online.
"By showing an integrated chip can manage quantum signals on a live
commercial network like Verizon's, and do so using the same protocols
that run the classical internet, we've taken a key step toward
larger-scale experiments and a practical quantum internet," says Liang
Feng, Professor in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) and in
Electrical and Systems Engineering (ESE), and the Science paper's senior
author.
Penn engineers send quantum signals with standard internet protocol
Part of the equipment used to create a node of the quantum network,
roughly one kilometer's worth of Verizon commercial fiber optic cable
away from its source. Credit: Sylvia Zhang
The challenges of scaling the quantum internet
Erwin Schrodinger, who coined the term "quantum entanglement," famously
related the concept to a cat hidden in a box. If the lid is closed, and
the box also contains radioactive material, the cat could be alive or
dead. One way to interpret the situation is that the cat is both alive
and dead. Only opening the box confirms the cat's state.
That paradox is roughly analogous to the unique nature of quantum
particles. Once measured, they lose their unusual properties, which
makes scaling a quantum network extremely difficult.
"Normal networks measure data to guide it towards the ultimate
destination," says Robert Broberg, a doctoral student in ESE and
co-author of the paper. "With purely quantum networks, you can't do
that, because measuring the particles destroys the quantum state."
Penn engineers send quantum signals with standard internet protocol
From left: Liang Feng, Professor in Materials Science and Engineering,
and Robert Broberg, a doctoral student in Electrical and Systems
Engineering. The wires behind them include a Verizon fiber optic cable
that carried the quantum signal. Credit: Sylvia Zhang
Coordinating classical and quantum signals
To get around this obstacle, the team developed the "Q-Chip" (short for
"Quantum-Classical Hybrid Internet by Photonics") to coordinate
"classical" signals, made of regular streams of light, and quantum
particles.
"The classical signal travels just ahead of the quantum signal," says
Yichi Zhang, a doctoral student in MSE and the paper's first author.
"That allows us to measure the classical signal for routing, while
leaving the quantum signal intact."
In essence, the new system works like a railway, pairing regular light
locomotives with quantum cargo. "The classical 'header' acts like the
train's engine, while the quantum information rides behind in sealed
containers," says Zhang.
"You can't open the containers without destroying what's inside, but the
engine ensures the whole train gets where it needs to go."
Because the classical header can be measured, the entire system can
follow the same "IP" or "Internet Protocol" that governs today's
internet traffic.
"By embedding quantum information in the familiar IP framework, we
showed that a quantum internet could literally speak the same language
as the classical one," says Zhang. "That compatibility is key to scaling
using existing infrastructure."
Penn engineers send quantum signals with standard internet protocol
A node of the quantum network, roughly one kilometer's worth of Verizon
fiber optic cable away from the quantum signal's source. Credit: Sylvia
Zhang
Adapting quantum technology to the real world
One of the greatest challenges to transmitting quantum particles on
commercial infrastructure is the variability of real-world transmission
lines. Unlike laboratory environments, which can maintain ideal
conditions, commercial networks frequently encounter changes in
temperature, thanks to weather, as well as vibrations from human
activities like construction and transportation, not to mention seismic
activity.
To counteract this, the researchers developed an error-correction method
that takes advantage of the fact that interference to the classical
header will affect the quantum signal in a similar fashion.
"Because we can measure the classical signal without damaging the
quantum one," says Feng, "we can infer what corrections need to be made
to the quantum signal without ever measuring it, preserving the quantum
state."
In testing, the system maintained transmission fidelities above 97%,
showing that it could overcome the noise and instability that usually
destroy quantum signals outside the lab. And because the chip is made of
silicon and fabricated using established techniques, it could be
mass-produced, making the new approach easy to scale.
"Our network has just one server and one node, connecting two buildings,
with about a kilometer of fiber-optic cable installed by Verizon between
them," says Feng. "But all you need to do to expand the network is
fabricate more chips and connect them to Philadelphia's existing
fiber-optic cables."
Penn engineers send quantum signals with standard internet protocol
Yichi Zhang, a doctoral student in Materials Science and Engineering,
inspects the source of the quantum signal. Credit: Sylvia Zhang
The future of the quantum internet
The main barrier to scaling quantum networks beyond a metro area is that
quantum signals cannot yet be amplified without destroying their
entanglement.
While some teams have shown that "quantum keys," special codes for
ultra-secure communication, can travel long distances over ordinary
fiber, those systems use weak coherent light to generate random numbers
that cannot be copied, a technique that is highly effective for security
applications but not sufficient to link actual quantum processors.
Overcoming this challenge will require new devices, but the Penn study
provides an important early step: showing how a chip can run quantum
signals over existing commercial fiber using internet-style packet
routing, dynamic switching and on-chip error mitigation that work with
the same protocols that manage today's networks.
"This feels like the early days of the classical internet in the 1990s,
when universities first connected their networks," says Broberg. "That
opened the door to transformations no one could have predicted. A
quantum internet has the same potential."
More information: Yichi Zhang et al, Classical-decisive quantum internet
by integrated photonics, Science (2025). DOI: 10.1126/science.adx6176.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adx6176
Citation: Engineers send quantum signals with standard Internet Protocol
(2025, August 28) retrieved 30 August 2025 from
https://phys.org/news/2025-08-quantum-standard-internet-protocol.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for
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without the written permission. The content is provided for information
purposes only.
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